Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Response to God’s Image – The Difference Maker in Answers In Genesis by David Casas and Dr. Russell Fuller

“We’re such good stewards,” claims a fundamentalist, proudly
displaying how she turned a milk carton into a pot for plants.

I read a Christian article this morning, “God’s Image – The Difference Maker,”
about how humans are special, have dominion over animals, how animals can’t
reason, how humans are commanded to reproduce, how animals are not spiritual, how
humans are told to be “good stewards of the earth,” and how humans are the only
spiritual beings because humans talk to each other about God.It is another “feel good about humans, feed
the human ego” article.

I think the fundamentalists really have a point on this one – animals probably
do not chat about the Christian god – or Jesus.Of course, this was another one of those epic length Christian
articles, but my paragraph above encompasses all of it, except for the huge
emphasis on how we humans are all spiritual.

The funny thing is, the word spiritual is never defined.Sometimes, when I see an animal standing
still, breathing in the air, or when I see an animal playing, I think it is
spiritual.It is experiencing life or
joy. If spirituality is being thankful,
revering life, enjoying life, being present, feeling life and trying to do
good, then animals pass the test as often as humans do.

I consider myself a very spiritual person.I am truly thankful to be alive, even though there is no one to
thank.I am so grateful for all the
beauty in life, and try to notice the good as much as possible.I pay attention to the feeling of the breeze
on my arms, and always look up and enjoy the stars when I walk my dog
outside at night.If I am not considered
spiritual by Christians, it is because they have too narrow a view of what is
spiritual.Spiritual is not exclusively their
word.

Do Christians actually think we were put here to have dominion over
animals?Why, then, did so many animals
die before humans even came on the scene?We have the fossils, you know.I
realize the fundamentalists will not accept the fossils, but even thinking
about the present, there are so many animals alive right now that humans have
never seen.How do we have dominion over
them?It is absurd that such a command
would be given, instead of a command to respect other animals.The only reason we have to take care of some
of them is because we have destroyed their habitats!

How in this day of information can Christians still believe
that animals cannot reason?We have
YouTube!Have you not seen all the
videos and read all the articles that show animals reasoning?They figure out how to get themselves and
friends out of locks; they put themselves in danger in order to save other
animals; they figure out mazes; they communicate in groups; they use tools to
get what they want; many have a sense of self; they share, they talk, and they
love.I am not sure what “reasoning”
higher animals lack! We know of a dog
who understands over 300 words. Not all
dogs can do this - animals have varied personalities and I.Q.s, just as do
people.Some animals grieve when they
lose a member of their group or a loved one.A few wild animals look sad after they have had to kill an animal for
food.They have feelings too! There is a bonobo who recognizes 3,000 words and can put short sentences together on a computer. He can gather sticks, light a fire with a match and then roast marshmallows! How more human-like is that!

It used to be that the difference between an animal and a human was that humans
made tools.But we now have proof that many
animals make and use tools.So they have
to move the goal posts and find something else to stall the fact that we are
much like our cousin primates!

Animals learn by watching.Dolphins imitate humans’ poses!Animals
have so many skills that are superior to humans, such as bats coordinating
hearing with navigation while flying, dolphins using echolocation, birds and
fish using group synchronization, sharks using electric signals from their
noses to locate food under the sea floor, and dogs with their superior sense of
smell – even a talking bird saying, “Talk clearly” when it was frustrated!How can anyone try to claim they are
reasonless?Their world is different
from ours so why are we judging them by their ability to talk to God?The reason humans are “chosen” is because
they have the ability talk to an imaginary friend?Pretty funny something unintelligent and
unreasonable is what divides us from the animal world, according to Creationists!

Also included in the article is the statement that humans
are commanded to reproduce.Where does
it say that?In the Abrahamic holy
books, written by men.If this were a
command, you would think all women would be able to have children and all men’s
sperm would be a’swimmin.In case these
fundamentalists didn’t notice, animals reproduce and don’t need a book to
command them to do so!If a human does
not want to reproduce or cannot reproduce, no one should force them to go
through something so unnecessary when we certainly are not dying out as a
species.Why can’t fundamentalists look
at the big picture – our dying planet – and see that reproducing exponentially
is not “intelligent design?”Thousands
of people dying from starvation each year, and they think they must reproduce,
and think it is a woman’s duty.These
examples show why holy books can be so dangerous.They cannot get past the intelligence of 2,000
years ago.

Fundamentalists always make excuses for their “dominion over
the animals” command.They say it means
to be a “good stewards of the earth.”This is how Christians take all the guilt away from themselves--by
making proclamations, “I am a good steward of the earth!”Really?And you eat meat and dairy which produce methane, excess CO2, destroy
rain forests, all our land and you populate which takes away animal habitat?“I am a good steward” is such an egotistical
statement for someone to make.Even
though I recycle, am vegan and don’t travel much, and buy from thrift shops if
I purchase at all, I would never call myself a good steward of the earth.There is much more I could do, like ride my
bike or take the bus to work which I do not do.If you eat meat and dairy, you are not a good steward, you are part of
the problem.That is not a mean
statement – it is a fact.I’m tired of apologizing
for something all should recognize at this point.The arrogance, selfishness and narrow
mindedness of fundamentalists continues to amaze me.

How will Christians respond?“She’s angry.”We need to show
her how loving Christianity is.Do you
think other humans cannot love?We have
all the emotions a Christian has – we just use reason instead of being fooled
by our emotions.We are all human
animals, and realizing our connection is very spiritual!

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About Me

I became an atheist thanks to YouTube! For years I hovered between having a God, being "spiritual" and being agnostic - in fact, most of my life. There was only a short period of time when I was a Jesus Freak along with my brother, but I did not fit in with his group. I attended a religious college for two years and felt like the "odd woman out" there as well. One day on the main page of AOL there was a picture of Kirk Cameron and another picture of a pretty young blond woman with curly long hair and a cute little chin. They said she got more "hits" on YouTube than Kirk did! Of course, it was Zomgitscriss! I watched her video and thought, "You know, I think like she does, but she is a lot smarter than I am!" I watched more of her videos, and she said it was just a hop, skip and jump from agnosticism to atheism. I thought, "Oh, I could never be an atheist - it's such a harsh word!" I decided to look at her favorites and saw a big guy with long hair who looked like he belonged in a motorcycle gang. I smirked and thought, "This will be good - let's see what he has to say," thinking he had to sound dumb. It turned out to be Aron Ra, and I was treated to video after video about evolution, taxonomy and phylogeny - subjects I knew nothing about! What an education! One day, I clicked on Pangeaprogress' videos. I saw his beautiful nature videos of Africa. Suddenly, a pack of lions surrounded an antelope and started eating her, slowly, starting at the hips and wherever they could bite. I was totally shocked. I had been overprotected a good share of my life, and my mother always told me that animals "always went right for the neck and the death was over in an instant." Well, it wasn't. From that moment on, I was an atheist. No God could sit by and watch such cruelty and pain and suffering and allow it to happen. No excuses. This is how YouTube converted me, and my eyes have been opened to so many new ideas thanks to the Internet!